Images build trust by confirming content and reassuring your reader of the quality and reliability of your service.
Match expectations
Adding images to your web page helps by confirming the relevance of the page. If an image at the top of your page does not match your reader’s expectation then they have to stop and question whether they are in the right place.
Matching expectations is particularly important on ecommerce websites where trust is critical. People have certain expectations of product pages when shopping online and if these aren’t met you risk losing trust.
Imagine choosing between two websites selling the same product; the first website has a product photo and the item is priced at £499. The second website doesn’t have a photo but the item costs £20 less. The product photo on the first website reassures you of what you will be sent, it seems ‘risky’ to go for the cheaper option that didn’t include a photo.
Signal investment
By adding images you also increase the time required to produce a page, which pays off by signalling its importance to the reader. They will be more likely to trust you if you have shown that you value your content highly enough to spend more time it.
Match image style to further signal your investment
Using images of a similar tone and style further adds to the subtle indicator of your investment on the page. Matching photos suggest that you have commissioned photography specifically for the project, not just grabbed whatever was available.
In the above image showing the ‘Team’ page of the Team Sky | Pro Cycling website, all of the profile photos have clearly been taken in the same photo shoot. This gives you an indication of how much effort was put into creating this page and the site as a whole. They could have asked each rider to submit their own photo which would not have looked anywhere near as good.
Include a photo to humanize your website
Reassure your reader that your not a faceless online scammer. It’s easier than ever for anybody to make a website. As there is no face to face interaction on the web it can be harder to establish trust.
Include a photograph of yourself, your staff, or your office to reassure your reader that you exist in the ‘real world’. The example above shows the ‘About Me’ page of SN Web Design. Including a photograph adds value and builds trust by making the content on the rest of the site easier to believe.
